The Dark Hour
by Viola Orpheus
Summary: One year. One year to make friends. One year to make bonds. One year to save the world. Mainly based on P3, and follows an OC's perspective. Mainly based on P3, and follows an OC's perspective.


Time never waits.

It delivers all the same until the end.

You, who wish to safeguard the future,

However limited it may be.

You are given one year;

Go forth without falter,

With your heart as your guide…

Persona.

April 6, 2011. Monday. Evening.

My name is Jun Katsuragi. 17 years old. Currently moving to the Iwatodai Dormitory where I'll be living in for the next few years. Transferring to Gekkoukan High School was pretty unexpected. But this is currently the only school that I afford, considering my parents passed away from an accident several years ago. Been living on my own for the past few years and I recently lost my job because they were cutting down on people so I had to find a different school in the nearby areas with a lower tuition fee since I used to go to a prestigious school.

"It's getting late." It appears that it's almost midnight. I promised that I'll be there before 11 o'clock. The train conductor soon broke the silence.

"Due to a malfunction in the switching system, today's rail schedule has been greatly altered. We apologize for customers who are in a hurry. The next stop is Iwatodai…"

I felt a small smile creep up on my mouth. It looks like I won't be taking another half hour or so before I get to the dorm. I'll need to apologize when I get there though.

The train soon stopped, I picked up my bags and began to walk out of the station. There weren't that many people inside, but that's pretty much expected because it's almost midnight. As I walked through the station, I noticed something flying by my side. I turned to look at it and found a blue-glowing butterfly. What's this doing here? It soon disappeared and I shrugged it off.

11:59:56…

11:59:57…

11:59:58…

11:59:59…

12:00:00.

"Hmm?" I noticed the lights were turned off. And all of the other electronics were off as well. The station wasn't dark, just dim and had a creepy shade of green. I could still see clearly for some reason. As soon as I walked out though, I was greeted by coffins in what could have been the places of the people. All liquid materials turned crimson, probably close to the color of blood. The moon was a sickly green as well. "I must be just sleepy from that train ride." That's what I thought to myself. "It's best if I hurry to the dorm." Wouldn't want to pass out in the middle of all of this now would I?

It didn't take me long to get to the dorm. It was too quiet, the streets, the buildings, everything. All I saw during the walk were coffins and pools of crimson water. Creepy is all I could say. I walked up to the front door and began knocking.

Knock knock knock…

No answer.

Knock knock knock…

No answer again.

That's weird. I gripped the door knob and found that it was open. Isn't this unsafe? Upon entering the dorm, I found that nobody was around. Am I even in the right place? I quickly took a look at the admission pamphlet given to me and noticed it had the same lobby. But where is everyone? "Hello?"

"Welcome." I heard a voice say from my side that startled me quite a bit. I turned to face the person to find a child around half my age standing there. He had short faded black hair, blue eyes and pale skin. He has a mole under his left eye, and is wearing black-and-white striped pajamas and sandals. "You are late. I have been waiting for a long time."

"Oh you were? I'm sorry. The rail schedule got screwed up at the last moment. They had to go around a few areas first before I got here." The boy then had a small smile on his face, probably happy that I got here safely. I noticed he was holding out a piece of paper to me. "What's this?"

"If you want to proceed, then please sign here. It's a contract." A contract? "There is no need to be scared. It only binds you to accepting responsibility for your actions." Is this really needed though? But, I don't really a choice do I? I signed my full name and signature on the blank space I'm supposed to put it on.

"Very well. Time is something no one can escape. It delivers us all to the same end. Wishing won't make it go away. And so it begins…" The boy soon disappeared, as if he blended into the darkness. Now what the heck was that about?

"Who's there?" A voice called out. I turned around to see a girl relatively around my age standing near the staircase. She had short dark-brown hair and a pink hair-band over her head. She was also wearing a school uniform. "How are you…? But it's…!" She then proceeded to pull out the weapon strapped from her back that looked like a naginata and assumed a fighting stance.

"H-hang on for a sec! I'm not hostile or anything!" I shouted to her. Is she crazy or something!

"Wait!" Another person quickly grasped the naginata to prevent the girl from moving it. As the person walked out of the shadows and into my view, it appeared that the person who saved me was also a girl. She had navy colored shoulder-length hair, wore red-rimless glasses and the same school uniform as the previous girl. The lights then soon turned back on and the shades of green disappeared. Man, I must be really tired from that trip to be getting hallucinations like that.

The girl who saved me told me to sit on the lobby sofas to talk to me for a second. The other followed suit and they both sat on the same sofa while I sat alone. "I didn't think you'd arrive so late. My name is Shizuka Morishima. I am one of the students who live in this dorm."

I figured they'd bring it up. "Sorry about that. The rail schedule got screwed up at the last moment, so the train had to go through several areas first before it stopped here."

"Um… Who's he?" The other girl butted in.

"He's a transfer student. His name is Jun Katsuragi. It was a last minute decision to assign him here. He'll eventually be moved to a room in the boys' dorm."

"Is it okay for him to be here?" Well that was quite rude.

"I guess we'll see." Wow, she's pretty laid back. "This is Ayumi Furukawa. She'll be a junior this spring, just like you."

"Hello, I'm Ayumi. Sorry about earlier. It was uh-. I-it was just a self-defense thing. Can't be too careful nowadays right?" Uh-huh…

"Well, it's getting late, you should get some rest. Your room is on the second floor at the end of the hallway. " I'll have to agree with Shizuka-san. I'm tired. I simply nodded and proceeded to get up from the sofa.

"I'll show you the way. Follow me." I was just about to decline her offer when Ayumi-san suddenly took my hand and slowly dragged me up the stairs. We soon arrived at the doorstep to my room. "Well, here it is. Should be easy enough to remember right? So, do you have any questions?"

"Yeah. What was that contract earlier for?"

"Contract? What contract?" Wait, Ayumi-san doesn't know?

"There was a boy earlier who welcomed me into the dorm. He asked me to a sign a contract about me being responsible for my actions."

"Come on, you've got to be joking. We don't have a contract like that, nor do we even have a boy here at the moment. The only boys we have living here aren't around for today." So she really doesn't know anything about it.

"Sorry, must have just been my imagination or something."

"Um… Can I ask you something? On your way here from the station, was everything alright?"

"What do you mean by that?"

"You know what I-… Never mind. Here are the keys to your room. Well, I'd better get going. I'm sure you probably have other questions, but let's save them for tomorrow, 'kay? Good night." I simply nodded and Ayumi-san soon walked down the stairs and disappeared from my view.

I turned to the door of my temporary room and opened it. As I got inside, I noticed that the room seemed normal. It had everything I needed in a bedroom and more, like a bed, a closet, a study desk, a small bathroom, etc. Well, since I was pretty tired, I decided to just hit the sack for tonight. I'll unpack my stuff tomorrow.

April 7, 2011. Tuesday. Early Morning.

Ring! Ring!

I heard my alarm go off. Was it already 6 in the morning? Man, I still feel tired. Oh well, time to get up and fix myself. Turning off my alarm, I got up and turned on the lights. I began unpacking my stuff and placed them in their proper areas. Clothes in the closet, school-related items on the study desk, cleaning stuff in the bathroom, etc. Soon after fixing my stuff, I changed into my school clothes, took a seat on the bed and rested for a bit.

Knock knock.

"Hey, it's Ayumi. Are you awake?" What time is it? It says 7:12 AM on my wristwatch. Did time really go that fast? Oh well, I got up and opened the door. "Good morning, did you sleep okay?" I nodded yes and she continued. "Shizuka-senpai asked me to take you to school. Are you ready to go?"

"Okay, give me a sec. I'll get my bag fixed."

"I'll be waiting down stairs in the lobby then. Don't take too long though okay? The train leaves in 30 minutes." I nodded and she soon went down the stairs. I closed the door and began packing the items I need for school.

It didn't take me long to finish and so I proceeded to go down to the lobby. Ayumi-san was sitting on one of the sofas and stood up when she saw me come down the stairs. "Took you long enough. Come on, let's get going."

The station was pretty far from the dorm, so it took us around 20 minutes to get there. We took our tickets and we soon got on the train when it arrived. The train left the station shortly.

Ayumi-san soon opened a conversation. "Bet in your old school you didn't have to use the train."

"Yep, you got that right. The school was only a few blocks away from the place I used to live in. I like this better though. We get to see the city while we're on this."

"I agree with you. That's my favorite part of riding the train. Our stop is Port Island Station. Once we get off, we walk. Ever heard of Tatsumi Port Island? That's where they built our school on. Look, you can see it now!" Wow, that's Gekkoukan? That looks so cool.

We soon got off and proceeded to walk towards the school. We met other students on the way there and we eventually arrived onto the front gates.

"Well, here we are. Welcome to Gekkoukan High!" Rather clichéd, but I'll take it.

We walked inside the school and into the main lobby of the school. "You should be alright from here won't you? You should go meet your homeroom teacher first. The faculty office is at the left hallway, first door to your right. And that's pretty much all I gotta say. Any questions before I head off?"

"Which class are you in?"

"I honestly don't know yet. I haven't checked the classroom assignments yet. Why do you ask?"

"Well, no big reason."

"Right… Oh, and about last night. Don't tell anyone what you saw, okay?"

"Er… Sure."

"See you later then." We soon went our separate ways. I noticed a couple of people standing near the bulletin boards, I went over and checked if my name was anywhere on it. I eventually found it listed on a small post-it note under Class-F. I also found that Ayumi-san's name is also under Class-F. Well, it seems like this'll be an interesting year.

I then proceeded to the faculty office. I was immediately greeted by a female teacher when I entered. The teacher had light brown neck-length hair, and is wearing a white collar shirt, a pink work jacket and pink pants. "You are the new student am I correct?" I nodded yes. "Name, Jun Katsuragi. And in the 11th grade correct?" I once again nodded. She seemed to have been flipping through my profile. "Oh, and your parents- Oh… I'm sorry. I was so busy that I didn't get to read this beforehand. I am Ms. Toriumi. I teach Composition. Welcome to our school."

"Thank you. And it's nice to meet you ma'am."

"Have you seen the classroom assignments already?"

"Yes I have."

"You will be in my class. But first, we'll have to go to the auditorium. The welcoming ceremony should start soon. Follow me." And that's what I did.

We soon got to the auditorium and she led me to my seat. This coincidentally enough, was between Ayumi-san and Ms. Toriumi herself. "Oh hey Jun. Looks like we'll be classmates this year. Let's make the best of it, okay?" Ayumi-san offered her hand for a handshake, and since I couldn't say no, I took it.

Ms. Toriumi then interrupted. "Hey kiddos, the ceremony is starting. Be sure to listen to the principal's speech."

The auditorium soon quieted down and the principal eventually came out and stood behind the podium. "As you begin the new school year, I'd like each of you to remember this proverb, 'If a job's worth doing, it's worth doing well.' When applied to student life, this means…" And so the principal continued with his speech.

April 7, 2011. Tuesday. Morning.

Homeroom just ended, and we're just about to begin our first class.

"Hey there." I turned to my left on the seat to meet a boy with blonde hair, green eyes and appears to be around my age sitting on the chair beside mine. "How are you doing?"

"Do I know you?"

"Now you do. I'm Daisuke Tsurumi. I'm also in Class 2-F. Nice to meet you. I transferred here when I was in the 9th grade. I know how it feels to be the new kid." And I know that myself very much. Having to move at least several times when my parents were still around. "Oh, and no need for the honorifics. Just call me Daisuke since we're friends already." That was pretty fast.

"Hey Daisuke. Hey Jun." Ayumi-san soon butted in as she walked towards us and sat on the chair in front of me. "It's quite the coincidence that we all got put in the same class huh?" I nodded.

"Coincidence? Oh come on. We've been classmates since I got here. Trust me, it is destiny." Daisuke soon received a small punch on his shoulder from Ayumi-san. "You're too harsh on me, you know that Ayumi-chan?" He playfully replied to her punch. "But you know what? The talk of the classes has been the fact that you two were seen going to school together. So, what's the news? Spill the dirt on me, come on."

"What? What are you talking about? We live in the same dorm. There's nothing going on, okay? Besides, Shizuka-senpai asked me to bring him to school today. Why are people even gossiping about it? It's creeping me out." Wow, she's being too paranoid about this. "Anyway, I got something to do something with the track club, so I gotta go." Ayumi-san soon left the room. But wait; weren't we starting a class soon? I was just about to go after her when Daisuke stopped me.

"Let her be, she's only heading to the bathroom. The clubs don't start activities or anything until tomorrow. But man, this only your first day and you're already the talk of the school. Believe it or not, but Ayumi-chan's pretty popular. You da man! Heck, I feel this is gonna be a fun school year." And I couldn't agree more.

April 7, 2011. Tuesday. After School.

Daisuke offered to go home together, and I couldn't really deny it, so I went along. We both make small talk with each other as we both got out of the school.

"Oh hey, have you thought about joining a club yet?" That's a good question. I never had the chance of joining one before since I was always on the move.

"I haven't really thought about it."

"Well, if I remember correctly, you can join one each of the Culture and Athletic Clubs. Heck, if you're lucky, you can even join the Student Council." Wow.

"I'll think about it." We soon continued our small talk until we went our own ways to get home. As soon as I got home though, I decided to hit the sack already. I'm still tired from yesterday.

April 8, 2011. Wednesday. Evening.

Today was rather uneventful. And I didn't really have anything to do after school, so I decided to get home early. As soon as I entered the dorm, I saw Ayumi-san speaking with an unfamiliar man.

"Oh hey, welcome back." Ayumi-san said as she looked towards me.

"So, this is our new guest." The sophisticated-looking gentleman said. This person had long wavy brown hair and is wearing glasses. He is also wearing a black turtleneck with a peach-colored suit. He appears to be a middle-aged person. He offered me to take a seat which I gladly accepted. "Good evening. My name is Shuji Ikutsuki. I'm the Chairman of the Board for your school. I apologize about the confusion regarding your accommodations. However, it might take a while longer before you receive the proper room assignment." Oh, then that's just great. "Is there anything you'd like to ask?"

"Is there anyone else who lives here?" That was the first question that popped in my head.

"There are currently only four students who live here." Oh? "You, Ayumi here, Mitsuru and another senior named Riku Marikawa. I hope you all get along. Do you have another question?"

"Yeah. The other night I saw something strange." Now might be a good time to bring this up.

"Hm? Something strange? Like what?"

"Well, it's kinda like-" I was then cutoff by Ikutsuki-san.

"You were probably just tired. I wouldn't worry about it." Something doesn't seem right though. "Any other questions you might have?"

"No, I'm good for now."

"Then, I hope you have a successful school year. Now if you'll excuse me…" He soon stood up and proceeded for the front doors. "You must be tired from all the excitement. You should go to bed early. As they say, 'The early bird catches the bookworm'! Please, excuse the bad pun." Ikutsuki-san then chuckled right after and left the dorm.

"Ugh… Don't worry. You'll get used to his bad jokes someday." Ayumi-san whispered to me.

"Right… Well, I'll head off to bed now. Good night Ayumi-san." I got off the sofa and went over to the stairs while waving goodbye to her.

April 8, 2011. Wednesday. Midnight.

"Master…"

"Master Jun Katsuragi."

Hm? Where am I? As I open my eyes, I see myself sitting down on a chair, facing a table and an old man with a freakishly long nose sitting across from me. He was wearing a black suit and white gloves. And he had a tall looking woman standing to his left side. This person had short white hair, and is wearing a blue dress that resembles a stewardess' outfit, blue gloves, a blue attendant-like hat, and blue boots, and was carrying some sort of book with her.

The place itself looked like a giant elevator with a creepy shade of velvet, and it doesn't look like it'll be stopping anytime soon. It also had several other items in it, like a closet, a drawer and a giant clock placed high above the old man.

"Welcome to the Velvet Room. My name is Igor. I am delighted to make your acquaintance. This is Elizabeth. She is a resident here, just like myself."

The woman named Elizabeth bowed to me and said, "Pleased to meet you."

Igor then continued. "This place exists between dream and reality, mind and matter… Only those who have signed the contract can enter this place." The contract I signed was on top of the table between us. "Henceforth, you shall be welcome here in the Velvet Room. You are destined to hone your unique ability, and you will require my help to do so. I only ask for one thing in return. That is that you abide by the contract, and assume responsibility for the choices you make."

"I understand."

"Hold on to this…" I then felt a key morph in my hand and as I take a look on it, I noticed the words 'Velvet Key' embedded on the handle. "Until we meet again..." I soon fell back into sleep after that.

April 9, 2011. Thursday. After School.

Daisuke and I ended up going to Paulownia Mall together before we head home.

He began telling me stuff about the mall when we got in. "Trust me. This place has a lot of things you'll want. It has a café, a karaoke place, an arcade! It even has a place that you could buy old music! And there's also a club here, but I've been in it yet though."

"Man, this place is pretty packed with a lot of students." And I'm not kidding. There are a lot of them in here.

"Can't really avoid it. The school is just several blocks away from this place. And a lot of people like hanging out here." He replied.

April 9, 2011. Thursday. Evening.

I still haven't recovered, so I'm still rather tired. Should get in bed early so I could get back some of my strength for tomorrow. As I got in bed, I noticed the moon was full tonight. And it's quite the beautiful sight. Just looking at it prompted my eyes to drop and rest, which I gladly allowed to happen. I fell asleep shortly.

April 9, 2011. Thursday. Midnight.

I was awoken by the loud sounds coming from the outside. I decided to get off from bed and see what's wrong. Just as I was about to open the door, someone from the other side began banging on the door.

"Wake up! Sorry, but I'm coming in!" Ayumi-san? The door was then opened by the key she had. She quickly opened the door and almost knocked me back. "Sorry, but I don't have time to explain! We have to get out of here now!" She's sweating and looked a little flushed.

"Wait, what's going on?"

"I'll tell you later! Hurry! Downstairs! We'll leave through the back door!" Ayumi-san proceeded to grab my hand and began dragging me down to the lobby.

"Hey-hey-hey! What's wrong! Is there a fire or something?" She didn't seem to be paying attention to my questions. We shortly arrived in the lobby and she then let go of my hand to grab the key for the backdoor. "Come on. At least tell me what's going on!"

I soon heard a couple of beeps go off and heard Shizuka-senpai's voice coming from somewhere. "Furukawa. Is Katsuragi with you?"

"Yes, he is." We then heard the backdoor being banged on by something.

"Be careful. There is more than one enemy. The one we're fighting isn't what Riku saw." Riku? Who's that? And wait, enemy!

"Alright, I understand." Another beep went off to signalize that the call or whatever has ended. "Come on, we have to pull back." Again, she pulled me by the hand and now we were headed up the stairs and into the roof. Ayumi-san then locked the door. "We should be safe for now I guess."

"Look, will you please tell me what the heck is going on!" I shouted out to her.

"I'll tell you later! Right now we're in serious hot wat-" She was cut off by the ground shaking pretty violently. "That's not good." Oh joy.

Sounds of something climbing the building were beginning to get louder and louder. And as soon as I looked towards the more open side of the rooftop, I saw a huge black hand grip the side of the rooftop coupled with a horrible and frightening noise. This was, however, soon followed by several more hands while some of said hands had swords being gripped. The creature who owned these hands soon arrived into our view as it pulled itself up onto the rooftop.

"What the…! What the hell is that thing!" I couldn't help but say it.

"That thing is a Shadow. That's what's been attacking this place." This monstrosity is called a Shadow? "Oh yeah… I have to fight don't I? I-I can summon mine… N-no problem." Her voice began to crack as she said those words. And wait, did she just say she'll summon something?

A small glowing card appeared above her and slowly descended upon her trembling hand. What is she doing? Before Ayumi-san could do anything though, the creature smacked her and was then knocked quite a ways back onto the door that she locked earlier.

"Ayumi-san!" I quickly ran over to her side and tried to see if she was okay. "Hey! Are you alright?" Before I could try and help her up, I heard a grunt from her which told me she was hurt and helping her up at the moment probably won't be a good idea.

"I-I'll be fine." Right… I then looked back towards the monstrosity that was attacking us. I then thought to myself. Am I really going to die here? But I can't let it end like this!

The creature slowly made its way towards us.

As it raised its hand, time then stopped for me.

"I art thou." What the…? I stood up and looked around. "And thou art I." Where is that coming from? "Open thine eyes."

A card similar to what Ayumi-san summoned earlier descended on my hand as I held it up. "And let thy power spring forth!" I found myself stepping forward as the card now floated on my hand.

"Per… sona." As if by instinct, I broke the card in my hand and felt an enormous power rise from within me. As I looked above, I saw some sort of floating being. It had a mechanical body and what looked like an organic head. The body itself looked like it was made of metal and had a speaker on its stomach. Its head had short white hair, wore a red scarf and had a lyre attached to its back. "Orpheus." Was its name.

Before I could do anything though, I felt a massive splitting pain in my head and soon heard myself and Orpheus screaming in pain as I ended up dropping on my knees. As I gripped my head, ands from what I could see, Orpheus' own head was being ripped apart by some other being and after it fully emerged from Orpheus, began violently assaulting and mauled the creature that hit Ayumi-san earlier. It seemed that nothing else was left and it soon morphed back into Orpheus, but not before an ear-piercing scream of its own.

So, this is a Persona. Orpheus soon disappeared from my sights and back into a card. This is my power?

"Is it over?" I heard Ayumi-san speak from behind.

"It should be." At least we were safe for now. Unwillingly, I dropped onto the ground. Summoning Orpheus took a lot out of my energy and now I'm feeling too exhausted to even get up.

"H-hey! Are you alright? Come on! Please! Can you hear me! Answer me!" were the last words I heard before I lost consciousness.


End file.
